Efficient query processing using histograms in a columnar database

ABSTRACT

A probabilistic data structure is generated for efficient query processing using a histogram for unsorted data in a column of a columnar database. A bucket range size is determined for multiples buckets of a histogram of a column in a columnar database table. In at least some embodiments, the histogram may be a height-balanced histogram. A probabilistic data structure is generated to indicate for which particular buckets in the histogram there is a data value stored in the data block. When an indication of a query directed to the column for select data is received, the probabilistic data structure for each of the data blocks storing data for the column may be examined to determine particular ones of the data blocks which do not need to be read in order to service the query for the select data.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/742,287, filed Jan. 15, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,949,224, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

As the technological capacity for organizations to create, track, andretain information continues to grow, a variety of differenttechnologies for managing and storing the rising tide of informationhave been developed. Database systems, for example, provide clients withmany different specialized or customized configurations of hardware andsoftware to manage stored information. However, the increasing amountsof data organizations must store and manage often correspondinglyincreases both the size and complexity of data storage and managementtechnologies, like database systems, which in turn escalate the cost ofmaintaining the information. New technologies more and more seek toreduce both the complexity and storage requirements of maintaining datawhile simultaneously improving the efficiency of data storage and datamanagement.

One such technology involves modifying the orientation or arrangement ofdata as it is stored in a database table using a column orienteddatabase table (often referred to as “columnar”) to reduce the number ofaccess operations required to manage it. Typically, access operations,such as various inputs (e.g., writing data) and output (e.g., readingdata), prove to be the most costly and least efficient when storing andmanaging data. Columnar databases may for certain types of datadrastically reduce the number of access operations, when, for instance,the database system is responding to a query for information that occurspredominately in a column of a database table rather than a row of adatabase table. Yet, even with the advent of technologies such ascolumnar database tables, the continued growth of collected informationrequires further optimizations for the storage and management of data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a dataflow block diagram of efficient queryprocessing using a height-balanced histogram for a column of a columnardatabase, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example distributed databasewarehouse service, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example distributed datawarehouse cluster, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating an example leader node,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4B is a block diagram illustrating an example compute node,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method to processqueries using a histogram for a column of a columnar database table,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method to determinebucket range sizes for a histogram representing an even distribution ofdata for a column in a columnar database table, according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a high-level flowchart illustrating a method to generate abitmap representing each bucket in a histogram of the data in a columnof a columnar database table, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart of a method to determine which datablocks do not need to be read in response to a query for data in acolumn of a columnar database table, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of a method to modify a probabilisticdata structure for a data block in response to detecting a rebalancingevent, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a method to update a probabilisticdata structure for a data block, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example system, according to some embodiments.

While embodiments are described herein by way of example for severalembodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments ordrawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings anddetailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments tothe particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within thespirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings usedherein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be usedto limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughoutthis application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e.,meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e.,meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and“includes” mean including, but not limited to.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that claimedsubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, methods, apparatus, or systems that would be known by one ofordinary skill have not been described in detail so as not to obscureclaimed subject matter.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed asecond contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a firstcontact, without departing from the scope of the present invention. Thefirst contact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are notthe same contact.

The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description ofthe invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that theterm “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Itwill be further understood that the terms “includes,” “including,”“comprises,” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon”or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” dependingon the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if [astated condition or event] is detected” may be construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting [thestated condition or event]” or “in response to detecting [the statedcondition or event],” depending on the context.

Various embodiments of efficient query processing using a histogram fora column of a columnar database are described herein. A databasemanagement service, such as a distributed data warehouse system, orother database management system may implement column oriented databasetables (hereinafter referred to as “columnar database tables”) toprovide efficient data management for clients. Typically, data in thecolumnar database table is sorted according to one column of thedatabase table, such as by date. When determining whether or not blockssorting data for the column along which the data is sorted, differentranges for each data block may be stored or estimated, allowing forqueries to only direct the reading of data blocks with the requesteddata known to be likely stored in the data block. However, such atechnique may only be applied when responding to queries for data in thecolumn along which the columnar database table is sorted, as only onecolumn may be sorted at a time.

A histogram represents the distribution of a data set within differentranges of values, which are often referred to as buckets. For example, ahistogram of weather temperatures might illustrate a bar graph thatshows the number of days where the high temperature was in the 90s, 80s,70s, and so on. The height of the bars in the bar graph representing thehistogram may vary greatly as some ranges of values may have morefrequent values in the data set. A height-balanced histogram, however,provides differing sizes of the ranges of values (i.e., the buckets)such that the height of the bars of a plotted histogram would be even orbalanced. A column of a columnar database table may contain data valuesof varying frequency. A histogram generated based on these data valuesmay be used to identify a different ranges of values stored in a datablock, and thus determine which blocks do not need to be read. In atleast some embodiments, a height-balanced histogram generated based onthese data values may provide sufficient selectivity (e.g.,discrimination or probability of a data value in a particular bucket) toprocess queries, such that when a query is received the height-balancedhistogram of the column may be used to determine which data blocksstoring data for the column do not need to be read. Less read operations(or other various access operations) may, for example, then be executedto obtain data to service a received query. Thus, by using a histogramor a height-balanced histogram for a column of a columnar database toprocess queries, some embodiments may provide more efficient managementof and access to large amounts of data.

It is not uncommon for clients (or customers, organizations, entities,etc.) to collect large amounts of data which may require subsequentstorage or management. Although some clients may wish to implement theirown data management system for this data, it is increasingly apparentthat obtaining data management services may prove a more efficient andcost effective option for those clients who do not wish to manage theirown data. For example, a small business may wish to maintain salesrecords and related data for future data analysis. Instead of investingdirectly in the data management system to maintain the data, and theexpertise required to set up and maintain the system, the small businessmay alternatively find it more efficient to contract with a datamanagement service to store and manage their data.

A data management service, such as a distributed data warehouse servicediscussed below with regard to FIGS. 2 through 4B, may offer clients avariety of different data management services, according to theirvarious needs. In some cases, clients may wish to store and maintainlarge of amounts data, such as sales records marketing, managementreporting, business process management, budget forecasting, financialreporting, website analytics, or many other types or kinds of data. Aclient's use for the data may also affect the configuration of the datamanagement system used to store the data. For instance, for certaintypes of data analysis and other operations, such as those thataggregate large sets of data from small numbers of columns within eachrow, a columnar database table may provide more efficient performance.In other words, column information from database tables may be storedinto data blocks on disk, rather than storing entire rows of columns ineach data block (as in traditional database schemes).

In some embodiments, storing table data in such a columnar fashion mayreduce the overall disk I/O requirements for various queries and mayimprove analytic query performance. For example, storing database tableinformation in a columnar fashion may reduce the number of disk I/Orequests performed when retrieving data into memory to perform databaseoperations as part of processing a query (e.g., when retrieving all ofthe column field values for all of the rows in a table) and may reducethe amount of data that needs to be loaded from disk when processing aquery. Conversely, for a given number of disk requests, the column fieldvalues for many more rows may be retrieved than if each data blockstored an entire table rows. In some embodiments, the disk requirementsmay be further reduced using compression methods that are matched to thecolumnar storage data type. For example, since each block containsuniform data (i.e., column field values that are all of the same datatype), disk storage and retrieval requirements may be further reduced byapplying a compression method that is best suited to the particularcolumn data type. In some embodiments, the savings in space for storingdata blocks containing only field values of a single column on disk maytranslate into savings in space when retrieving and then storing thatdata in system memory (e.g., when analyzing or otherwise processing theretrieved data). For example, for database operations that only need toaccess and/or operate on one or a small number of columns at a time,less memory space may be required than with traditional row-basedstorage, since only data blocks storing data in the particular columnsthat are actually needed to execute a query may be retrieved and storedin memory. To increase the efficiency of implementing a columnardatabase table, a histogram for a column of a columnar database may begenerated to create probabilistic data structures that are used todetermine data blocks that do not need to be read when responding to aquery.

FIG. 1 illustrates a dataflow block diagram of efficient queryprocessing using a height-balanced histogram for a column of a columnardatabase, according to some embodiments. A height-balanced histogram 110may be created based on the data values stored in multiple data blocksin a column 132 of a columnar database table. The bucket range sizes ofthe histogram 110 may be determined such that the data values are evenlydistributed among the buckets 120 of the histogram. A probabilistic datastructure may be created which indicates for which particular buckets ofthe buckets 110 in the height-balanced histogram 110 there is a datavalue stored in the data block. Stated more generally, a probabilisticdata structure may be used to test whether a given value is a member ofa data set, such as a set of data values stored in a data block. Theprobabilistic data structure may indicate with certainty that aparticular value is not a member of a set of data values. In order toservice queries 140 directed to the column 132 for select data, therespective entries in the superblock data structure 100 may be examinedto determine which blocks do not need to be read.

Storage 130 may be one or more storage devices, such as storage diskdevices or other type of storage devices configured to store data for acolumnar database table. In FIG. 1, storage 130 is configured to storedata for multiple columns, including column 132. Data may, for instance,be a list of dates, cites, quantities, or web metrics and, moregenerally, any other type or form of data value capable of storage in adata block for a column of a columnar database table. In variousembodiments, the data values stored in a column are unsorted. A datablock may be a unit of data storage (e.g., a data page), a logicalabstraction, or physical block of storage that stores these data valuesin a database or other storage system. A columnar database table may bea column-oriented storage system for data configured to store datavalues of a column together. In at least some embodiments, storage 130may be distributed across multiple different nodes in a distributeddatabase system.

A histogram 110 may be generated based on the data values of the datablocks stored in the column 132. To determine the bucket range sizes ofthe buckets 120, data of the column from the data blocks may beobtained. Then multiple buckets may be generated, which may besignificantly more than the number of values that may be stored in thedata block. A bucket range size may be set for the buckets such that thedata of the column is evenly distributed among the buckets. FIG. 1illustrates the varying bucket 120 range sizes. For example, a retailermay store demographic information, such as age, about customers whopurchase goods from the retailer over a certain period of time in acolumn of a columnar database table. If the ages of customers werehighly concentrated at a certain age range (e.g., 45 to 60 years old)with the rest of customer ages more spread out, a histogram with evenbucket size ranges (e.g., 10 years) might have 2 buckets, 40-50 and50-60 with high numbers and the other buckets with much smaller numbersof customers. Instead, the bucket range sizes may be varied in bucketrange size, such that some bucket ranges may contain ages 0-25, whileothers may be smaller 45-47, such that the number of customersrepresented in each bucket is evenly distributed across all of thebuckets.

Probabilistic data structures may be generated for each data block basedon the bucket range sizes 120. These probabilistic data structuresindicate for which buckets of the buckets 120 a data value is within therange of values represented by the bucket and stored within a datablock. In some embodiments, as FIG. 1 illustrates, probabilistic datastructures may be stored as bitmaps. Each bit of the bitmap maycorrespond to a bucket of the histogram. Set bits indicate that a datavalue within the range of the bucket is stored within the data block.Thus if, for example, a query is being processed and the bitmap isexamined for certain data values, if the bit of the bitmap representinga bucket that contains the data value sought in the query is set, thenit is possible that the data value may be stored in the data block. Ifnot, then the data block may not need to be read. Although illustratedas a height-balanced histogram 110, in at least some embodiments anon-height-balanced histogram may be used to generate the probabilisticdata structures.

Probabilistic data structures may be stored in a block metadata datastructure, such as superblock data structure 100, which storesinformation about the data blocks in the column. Each data block mayhave a respective entry in the superblock data structure 100. In someembodiments, as new data for a column is received, new probabilisticdata structures may be generated to indicate which buckets have datavalues stored in the data block that are within the bucket range. In atleast some embodiments, a rebalancing event, such as a certain thresholdof new data added to a column, or a certain amount of time has passedsince the creation of the histogram, may be detected. In someembodiments, a certain amount of skew in additional data to be storedfor the column may also trigger a rebalancing event. The bucket rangesizes may be modified, and the probabilistic data structures, such asthose stored in the superblock data structure may be updated. As themodified probabilistic data structures are used in service of futurequeries directed to the column, false positives (i.e., when theprobabilistic data structure indicates that a data value is storedwithin a range of the bucket size, but in fact the data block does notstore a value within the range of the bucket size) may be corrected byupdating the probabilistic data structure to more accurately reflect thedata values stored in the data block. In some embodiments, a newsuperblock data structure may be created to be used for servicingqueries, replacing a current superblock data structure so that queryprocessing may not be interrupted when updating probabilistic datastructures.

Embodiments of efficient query processing using a histogram for a columnof a columnar database may be implemented in a variety of differentdatabase management systems. Data management services, such asdistributed data warehouse services or other database services offeredto clients, may implement query processing using a histogram for acolumn of a columnar database for client data stored with the datamanagement service. Similarly client owned, operated, or controlleddatabase systems may also implement histograms for query processing ofcolumns. More generally, any system that stores data in a columnardatabase table may implement various embodiments of efficient queryprocessing using a histogram for a column of a columnar database, andthus, the previous examples need not be limiting as to various othersystems envisioned.

Implementing Histograms for Query Processing in a Distributed DataWarehouse Service

As discussed above, various clients (or customers, organizations,entities, or users) may wish to store and manage data using a datamanagement service. FIG. 2 illustrates an example distributed datawarehouse system that may provide data management services to clients,according to some embodiments. Specifically, data warehouse clusters mayrespond to store requests (e.g., to write data into storage) or queriesfor data (e.g., such as a Server Query Language request (SQL) for selectdata), along with many other data management or storage services.

Multiple users or clients may access a data warehouse cluster to obtaindata warehouse services. Clients which may include users, clientapplications, and/or data warehouse service subscribers), according tosome embodiments. In this example, each of the clients 250 a through 250n is able to access data warehouse cluster 225 and 235 respectively inthe distributed data warehouse service 280. Distributed data warehousecluster 225 and 235 may include two or more nodes on which data may bestored on behalf of the clients 250 a through 250 n who have access tothose clusters.

A client, such as clients 250 a through 250 n, may communicate with adata warehouse cluster 225 or 235 via a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, personal digital assistant, mobile device,server, or any other computing system or other device, such as computersystem 1000 described below with regard to FIG. 11, configured to sendrequests to the data warehouse clusters 225 and 235, and/or receiveresponses from the distributed data warehouse clusters 225 and 235.Requests, for example may be formatted as a message that includesparameters and/or data associated with a particular function or serviceoffered by a data warehouse cluster. Such a message may be formattedaccording to a particular markup language such as Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML), and/or may be encapsulated using a protocol such asSimple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). Application programmer interfaces(APIs) may be implemented to provide standardized message formats forclients, such as for when clients are communicating with distributeddata warehouse service manager 202.

Clients 250 a through 250 n may communicate with distributed datawarehouse clusters 225 and 235, hosted by distributed data warehouseservice 280 using a variety of different communication methods, such asover Wide Area Network (WAN) 260 (e.g., the Internet). Private networks,intranets, and other forms of communication networks may also facilitatecommunication between clients and data warehouse clusters. A client mayassemble a message including a request and convey the message to anetwork endpoint (e.g., a Uniform Resource Locator (URL)) correspondingto the data warehouse cluster). For example, a client 250 a maycommunicate via a desktop computer running a local software application,such as a web-client, that is configured to send hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP) requests to data warehouse cluster 225 over WAN 260.Responses or other data sent to clients may be formatted in similarways.

In at least some embodiments, a distributed data warehouse service, asindicated at 280, may host distributed data warehouse clusters, such asclusters 225 and 235. The distributed data warehouse service 280 mayprovide network endpoints to the storage clients 250 a to 250 n of theclusters which allow the clients 250 a through 250 n to send requestsand other messages directly to a particular cluster. As noted above,network endpoints, for example may be a particular network address, suchas a URL, which points to a particular cluster. For example, client 250a may be given the network endpoint “http://mycluster.com” to sendvarious request messages to. Multiple storage clients (or users of aparticular storage client) may be given a network endpoint for aparticular cluster. Various security features may be implemented toprevent unauthorized users from accessing the clusters. Conversely, aclient may be given network endpoints for multiple clusters.

Distributed data warehouse clusters, such as data warehouse cluster 225and 235, may be made up of one or more nodes. These clusters may includedifferent numbers of nodes. A node may be a server, desktop computer,laptop, or, more generally any other computing device, such as thosedescribed below with regard to computer system 1000 in FIG. 11. In someembodiments, the number of nodes in a data warehouse cluster may bemodified, such as by a cluster scaling request. Nodes of a datawarehouse cluster may implement one or more data slices for storingdata. These data slices may be part of storage devices, such as the diskstorage devices discussed below with regard to FIGS. 3 and 4B. Clustersmay be configured to receive requests and other communications over WAN260 from storage clients, such as clients 250 a through 250 n. A clustermay be configured to receive requests from multiple clients via thenetwork endpoint of the cluster.

In some embodiments, distributed data warehouse service 280 may beimplemented as part of a web service that allows users to set up,operate, and scale a data warehouse in a cloud computing environment.The data warehouse clusters hosted by the web service may provide anenterprise-class database query and management system that allows usersto scale the clusters, such as by sending a cluster scaling request to acluster control interface implemented by the web-service. Scalingclusters may allow users of the web service to perform their datawarehouse functions, such as fast querying capabilities over structureddata, integration with various data loading and ETL (extract, transform,and load) tools, client connections with best-in-class businessintelligence (BI) reporting, data mining, and analytics tools, andoptimizations for very fast execution of complex analytic queries suchas those including multi-table joins, sub-queries, and aggregation, moreefficiently.

In various embodiments, distributed data warehouse service 280 mayprovide clients (e.g., subscribers to the data warehouse serviceprovided by the distributed data warehouse system) with data storage andmanagement resources that may be created, configured, managed, scaled,and terminated in response to requests from the storage client. Forexample, in some embodiments, distributed data warehouse service 280 mayprovide clients of the system with data warehouse clusters composed ofvirtual compute nodes. These virtual compute nodes may be nodesimplemented by virtual machines, such as hardware virtual machines, orother forms of software implemented to simulate hardware configurations.Virtual nodes may be configured to perform the same tasks, functions,and/or services as nodes implemented on physical hardware.

Distributed data warehouse service 280 may be implemented by a largecollection of computing devices, such as customized or off-the-shelfcomputing systems, servers, or any other combination of computingsystems or devices, such as the various types of devices described belowwith regard to FIG. 11. Different subsets of these computing devices maybe controlled by distributed data warehouse service manager 202.Distributed data warehouse service manager 202, for example, may providea cluster control interface to clients, such as clients 250 a through250 n, or any other clients or users who wish to interact with thedistributed data warehouse clusters managed by the distributed datawarehouse manager 202, which in this example illustration would be datawarehouse clusters 225 and 235. For example, distributed data warehouseservice manager 202 may generate one or more graphical user interfaces(GUIs) for storage clients, which may then be utilized to select variouscontrol functions offered by the control interface for the datawarehouse clusters hosted in the distributed data warehouse service 280.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a distributed data warehousecluster in a distributed data warehouse service, according to oneembodiment. As illustrated in this example, a distributed data warehousecluster 300 may include a leader node 320 and compute nodes 330, 340,and 350, which may communicate with each other over an interconnect 360.Leader node 320 may generate and/or maintain one or more query plans 325for executing queries on distributed data warehouse cluster 300. Asdescribed herein, each node in a distributed data warehouse cluster mayinclude multiple disks on which data blocks may be stored on behalf ofclients (e.g., users, client applications, and/or distributed datawarehouse service subscribers). In this example, compute node 330includes disks 331-338, compute node 340 includes disks 341-348, andcompute node 350 includes disks 351-358. In some embodiments, acomponent of the distributed data warehouse cluster (or the distributeddata warehouse system of which it is a component) may support loadbalancing, using any of a variety of applicable load balancingtechniques. For example, in some embodiments, leader node 320 mayinclude a load balancing component (not shown).

In at least some embodiments, distributed data warehouse cluster 300 maybe implemented as part of the web based data warehousing service, suchas the one described above, and includes a leader node 320 and multiplecompute nodes, such as compute nodes 330, 340, and 350. The leader node320 may manage communications with storage clients, such as storageclients 250 a through 250 n discussed above with regard to FIG. 2. Forexample, a leader node may be a server that receives requests fromvarious storage client programs (e.g., applications) and/or subscribers(users), then parses them and develops an execution plan (e.g., queryplan(s) 325) to carry out the associated database operation(s). Morespecifically, the leader node may develop the series of steps necessaryto obtain results for complex queries and joins. Leader node 320 mayalso manage the communications among compute nodes 330 through 350instructed to carry out database operations for data stored in the datawarehousing cluster 300. For example, compiled code may be distributedby leader node 320 to various ones of the compute nodes 330 to 350 tocarry out the steps needed to perform queries, and intermediate resultsof those queries may be sent back to the leader node 320. Leader node320 may receive data and query responses or results from compute nodes330, 340, and 350. A database schema and/or other metadata informationfor the data stored among the compute nodes, such as the data tablesstored in the cluster, may be managed and stored by leader node 320.

Distributed data warehousing cluster 300 may also include compute nodes,such as compute nodes 330, 340, and 350. These one or more computenodes, may for example, be implemented on servers or other computingdevices, such as those described below with regard to computer system1000 in FIG. 11, and each may include individual query processing“slices” defined, for example, for each core of a server's multi-coreprocessor. Compute nodes may perform processing of database operations,such as queries, based on instructions sent to compute nodes 330, 340,and 350 from leader node 320. The instructions may, for example, becompiled code from execution plan segments and steps that are executableby the particular data compute node to which it is sent. Data computenodes may send intermediate results from queries back to leader node 320for final aggregation. Each data compute node may be configured toaccess a certain memory and disk space, such as illustrated in FIG. 4B,in order to process a portion of the workload for a query (or otherdatabase operation) that is sent to one or more of the compute nodes330, 340 or 350. Thus, compute node 330, for example, may access disk431, 432, up until disk 438.

Disks, such as the disks 331 through 358 illustrated in FIG. 3, may bemay be implemented as one or more of any type of storage devices and/orstorage system suitable for storing data accessible to the data computenodes, including, but not limited to: redundant array of inexpensivedisks (RAID) devices, disk drives or arrays of disk drives such as Justa Bunch Of Disks (JBOD), (used to refer to disks that are not configuredaccording to RAID), optical storage devices, tape drives, RAM disks,Storage Area Network (SAN), Network Access Storage (NAS), orcombinations thereof. In various embodiments, disks may be formatted tostore columnar database tables through various column-oriented databaseschemes.

In some embodiments, each of the compute nodes in a distributed datawarehouse cluster may implement a set of processes running on the nodeserver's (or other computing device's) operating system that managecommunication with the leader node, e.g., to receive commands, send backdata, and route compiled code to individual query processes (e.g., foreach core or slice on the node) in order to execute a given query. Insome embodiments, each of compute nodes includes metadata for the blocksstored on the node. In at least some embodiments this block metadata maybe aggregated together into a superblock data structure, which is a datastructure (e.g., an array of data) whose entries store information(e.g., metadata about each of the data blocks stored on that node (i.e.,one entry per data block). In some embodiments, each entry of thesuperblock data structure includes a unique ID for a respective block,and that unique ID may be used to perform various operations associatedwith data block. For example, indications of column-specific compressiontechniques applied to the data stored in the data block, indications ofdefault compression techniques applied to the data stored in the datablock, or probabilistic data structures that indicate data values notstored in a data block may all be stored in the respective entry for adata block. In some embodiments, the unique ID may be generated (and acorresponding entry in the superblock created) by the leader node or bya computing node when the data block is first written in the distributeddata warehouse system.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example leader node, according to someembodiments. As discussed above, leader node 400 may interact withvarious clients in a distributed data warehouse system receiving variousmessages and queries to manage and store additional data in a columnardatabase table. In addition to developing query plans 410 to carry outthe associated database operation, a leader node may, in someembodiments, also include a histogram generator 420. Various differenthardware and software devices may be used singly or in combination toimplement histogram generator 420. Histogram generator 420 may beconfigured to determine bucket range sizes for a height-balancedhistogram representing a distribution of data among multiple buckets ina column of the columnar database table. Histogram generator 420 maygenerate different histograms used for query processing, such asheight-balanced histograms. In some embodiments, the data for a columnof a columnar database table may be physically stored on many differentcompute nodes, such as compute node 450 illustrated in FIG. 4B.Histogram generator 420, therefore, may obtain as input the data fromthe different compute nodes for a column, generate the buckets for ahistogram of the data in the column, and set a bucket range size foreach of the buckets such that the data is evenly distributed among thebuckets. Histogram generator 420 may also generate a probabilistic datastructure for each data block of one or more data blocks storing datafor the column based on the buckets of the histogram for the data in thecolumn. A probabilistic data structure, as discussed above, indicateswhether a given value is likely within a set of values, such as the datavalues stored in the data block. Thus, when based on the histogram, suchas a height-balanced histogram, for the data in the column, theprobabilistic data structure may indicate for which buckets of themultiple buckets of the histogram there is a data value in the bucketrange size stored in the data block.

Histogram generator 420 may also determine when a histogram for a givencolumn is to be regenerated, including generating new probabilistic datastructures for the data blocks in the column. In some embodiments, arebalancing event may be detected for a height-balanced histogram, suchas when the time elapsed since the height-balanced histogram for thecolumn was last generated, or when a certain amount of new data has beenstored in the column. The histogram generator 420 may be configured, inat least some embodiments, to modify the bucket size ranges for theheight-balanced histogram of a column, and may update the probabilisticdata structures according to the modified bucket range sizes.Alternatively, in some embodiments, histogram generator 420 may beconfigured to determine new bucket range sizes for a new height-balancedhistogram for the data values stored in a given column.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of a compute node, according to someembodiments. Access requests 452, such as the various queries andmessages sent to a leader node, such as leader node 320, and sent from aleader node to a compute node, may be received at compute node 450. Aquery execution module 460 may process access requests, directing reads,writes, and other access operations to disks 450 through 458. Variousdifferent hardware and software devices may be used singly or incombination to implement query execution module 460. When processingqueries, query execution module 460 may examine the probabilistic datastructure for each data block storing data for the column to determinethe data blocks which do not need to be read in order to service thequery, and then read the data blocks storing data for the columnexcepting those data blocks which do not need to be read.

In some embodiments, a compute node 450 may also include a superblockdata structure 470, such as the superblock data structure describedabove, stored locally at the compute node or stored remotely, butaccessible to the compute node, which may include respective entries 472for the data blocks stored on the compute node 450 which store blockmetadata including probabilistic data structures for the data blocks.Note, however, that in some embodiments metadata for data blocks may bestored in multiple different locations, such as in the data blockitself, or in in other individual data structures. Therefore, thesuperblock data structure 470 is not intended to be limiting as to thevarious other structures, locations, methods, or techniques which mightbe applied to preserve metadata information for the data block.

As noted above, FIGS. 2 through 4 illustrate example embodiments ofprocessing queries using histograms for a column of a columnar databasetable and are not intended to be limiting as to other architectures,systems, components, or arrangements that may be used for storing andmanaging a columnar database table. For example, the distributed datawarehouse cluster 300 described above with regard to FIG. 3 may notinclude a leader node, or may include one or more other different nodesperforming different functions for the storage and management of data.

Workflow of Processing Queries Using a Height-Balanced Histogram

As has been discussed above, database management systems may beconfigured to utilize columnar database tables to provide more efficientdata management functions. In order to more efficiently perform thesefunctions, probabilistic data structures may be generated for datablocks storing data for a column in a columnar database table based on ahistogram of the data in the column. In at least some embodiments, thishistogram is a height-balanced histogram. FIG. 5 is a high-levelflowchart illustrating a method to determine bucket range sizes for ahistogram representing a distribution of data for a column in a columnardatabase table, according to some embodiments. Various different systemsand devices may implement the various methods and techniques describedbelow. A histogram generator, such as histogram generator 420 describedabove with regard to FIG. 4, may work together with a query executionmodule, such as query execution module 460, to implement the variousmethods. Alternatively, a combination of different systems and devices,such as the multiple compute nodes illustrated in FIG. 3 workingtogether, for example, may also perform the below method and techniques.Therefore, the above examples and or any other systems or devicesreferenced as performing the illustrated method, are not intended to belimiting as to other different individuals or configurations of systemsand devices.

In various embodiments, bucket range sizes for buckets of a histogramfor a column of a columnar database table may be determined, asindicated at 500. As discussed above, a histogram represents thedistribution of data across ranges of values, often called “buckets.”Typically, these buckets may be sized equally. For example, if histogramwere generated for number of software application downloads based on theamount of time spent using an application demo, the buckets might haverange sizes of 10 minute intervals up to 2 hours. However, a histogram,such as a height-balanced histogram, of the data values may determinethat some buckets should be 5 minute intervals and some should be 30 minintervals, to evenly distribute the number of downloads in each bucket.FIG. 6 illustrates one such method to determine bucket range sizes for ahistogram representing an even distribution of data for a column in acolumnar database table, according to some embodiments.

As indicated at 602, the data of the column which the histogramrepresents may be obtained. As noted above, in some embodiments a singlenode, storage device, may physically store all of the data blocks for aparticular column in one location. However, in at least some otherembodiments, though data blocks may be logically grouped as data blocksstoring data for a particular column of a columnar database table, thedata blocks themselves may be physically distributed across multiplelocations on several different devices, such as the multiple computenodes in the distributed data warehouse cluster described above withregard to FIG. 3. Thus, in some instances the data may be obtained frommultiple devices or systems before further calculations are performed.

A number of buckets may then be generated which represent ranges of datavalues stored in a data block, as indicated at 604. The particularnumber of buckets may be determined based on the number of data valuesthat may be stored in a data block. In some embodiments, the number ofbuckets generated may be significantly more than the number of datavalues that may be stored. For instance, the number of buckets for thehistogram may be determined based on a particular factor (or multiple)of the number of data values that may be stored in a data block. Thus,if a data block may store 100 data values, then the number of bucketsgenerated for the histogram representing the column may be increased bya factor of 10 to 1,000 buckets. Selectivity (the accuracy) with which aprobabilistic data structure is generated based on the number ofbuckets, may depend on a larger or more significant difference betweenthe number of buckets and the number of data values that may be storedin a data block. However, this need not be limiting as other possibleembodiments may determine a number of buckets to be generated accordingto alternative criteria, such as the type of data stored in the column(e.g., name, data, number, product number, etc.) or the type of querytypically directed to the data (e.g., a range query).

The range sizes of the buckets may then be adjusted to balance the dataof the column among the buckets for the height-balanced histogram, asindicated at 606. Please note, that the term “evenly” or “balance” asused in this specification is not limited to nor intended to mean“exactly the same values.” Near balance, approximate balance, or even anestimated balance among the buckets for a histogram may provide forsimilar selectivity, and as such the terms are not to be restricted toone particular meaning.

Upon determining the bucket range sizes for buckets of a histogram, aprobabilistic data structure may be generated for each data blockstoring data for the column of the columnar database table, as indicatedat 510. As noted above, a probabilistic data structure may indicatewhether a given value is a member of a set of data, such as the datastored in a data block. A probabilistic data structure may indicate forwhich buckets in the height-balanced histogram for the whole columnthere is a data value stored in the data block. In at least someembodiments, the probabilistic data structure may be a bitmap. FIG. 7illustrates a flowchart of a method to generate a bitmap representingeach bucket in a histogram of the data in a column of a columnardatabase table, according to some embodiments.

A bitmap for a data block storing data for a column in a columnardatabase table may be generated, as indicated at 612. The number of bitsin the bitmap may correspond to the number buckets in the histogram.Each bit may represent a bucket in the histogram representing thedistribution of data in the column. For example, as illustrated in FIG.1, the 8 buckets illustrated with the histogram correspond to the 8 bitsin the bitmap stored in superblock 100. Once created, each data valuestored in a data block may be located within one of the buckets for theheight-balanced histogram. The respective bit for the bucket thatincludes the data value within the range of values for the bucket is set(e.g., set to a value of “1”), as indicated at 614. Once all of the datavalues have been located in the buckets of the histogram and thecorresponding bits for buckets that contain data values in the buckethave been set, the bitmap may be stored in block metadata. As indicatedat 616, in some embodiments, the bitmap may be stored in a respectiveentry of a superblock, such as superblock 470 described above withregard to FIG. 4B.

In various embodiments, a query, or an indication of a query, may bereceived that is directed to the column of the columnar database tablefor select data, as indicated at 520. As discussed above with regard toFIGS. 2 through 4B, a query or other access request message may beformatted according to a variety of different standardized queryprotocols or languages, such as SQL, or a customized format, such asdescribed in an API. In at least some embodiments, the query may be oneor more queries directed to a compute node, such as compute node 450described above with regard to FIG. 4B, from a leader node, such asleader node 400 described above with regard to FIG. 4A. In response toreceiving the query, the probabilistic data structure for each datablock storing data in the column may be examined, as indicated at 530.The examination of a probabilistic data structure may determineparticular data blocks which do not need to be read in order to servicethe query for the select data.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method to determine which datablocks do not need to be read in response to a query for data in acolumn of a columnar database table, according to some embodiments. Asindicated at 700, an indication of a query directed to a column of acolumnar database table for selected data may be received. The query maycontain a request for particular data, such as a range of data values(e.g., data between certain dates, data associated with certain purchaseorder amounts, etc.). The data values of the select data may then belocated within a bucket of the histogram for the column that the queryis directed to. Once identified, the probabilistic data structure, suchas the bitmap, may be obtained from block metadata, such as asuperblock, and examined to determine if the particular data is notstored in the data block, as indicated at 710. If the corresponding bitsof the bitmap for the bucket locations of the data values in the selectdata are not set, then the bitmap indicates that the data block does notneed to be read, as indicated at 720. For example, looking back at FIG.1, the first bitmap stored in superblock 100 has 8 bit values, “1 0 0 10 1 1 0” which correspond to the buckets for the histogram 120. If thefirst bucket represents data values 1 through 10, and the second bucketrepresents values 11 through 30, then for a selected data value of 20,the bit corresponding to the second bucket will be examined. In thiscase, the bit is set to 0, indicating that there are no data values inthe range from 11 to 30 stored in the corresponding data block in column132. Thus, the bitmap would indicate that the first data block need notbe read if the select data value is 20. However, if there is a selectdata value of 5, then the corresponding bit for the first bucket is setto 1, indicating that a value of 1 to 10 may be stored in the datablock. Thus, the bitmap would indicate that data block may store thedata value, as indicated at 720. As a result, the data block may beread, as indicated at 730.

As FIG. 8 illustrates, this process may be repeated until all of theblock metadata, such as the respective entries for the data blocks inthe superblock, have been examined for all of the data blocks storingdata for the column, as indicated at 740. For example, both “No”branches point to element 712 which indicates that a bitmap for the nextdata block in the column may be obtained from the super block. The dataread from the data blocks may then be provided to service the equerryfor the select data, as indicated at 750. Note that because the datablock is read does not indicate the select data must be in the datablock, but instead indicates that the data may be stored in the datablock. Further filtering, processing, or other query operations may beperformed upon the data read from the data block. At least some of thedata may be returned to a leader node, storage client, or other systemor device.

As data operations are performed on the data in a column, such as theaddition or modification of data values, the probabilistic datastructure for a data block in a column may not remain current. Forexample, in some embodiments additional data for the column may bereceived and stored in new data blocks. When the new data is stored, aprobabilistic data structure may be generated for the new data block,such as by setting the bits in a bitmap corresponding to the buckets inthe previously created height-balanced histogram for the new datavalues. Over time, this may skew the histogram, causing the histogram tobecome less height-balanced or have less evenly distributed column dataamong the buckets. For some embodiments implementing a height-balancedhistogram, this additional data may reduce the efficiency of using theheight-balanced histogram. As a remedy, in at least some embodiments, anew height-balanced histogram for the current data stored in a column ofa columnar database table may be calculated, with bucket range sizesdetermined and new probabilistic data structures generated for each thedata blocks storing data for the column. However, this operation mayprove expensive in terms of computational resources. Therefore, in atleast some embodiments, the bucket ranges themselves may be modifiedwithout recalculating the distribution of the data of the column toinclude the new or modified data in the column.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of a method to modify a probabilisticdata structure for a data block in response to detecting a rebalancingevent, according to some embodiments. As indicated at 802, a rebalancingevent may be detected. For example, a histogram generator, such ashistogram generator 420 discussed above with regard to FIG. 4A, maydetect that a certain amount of time has passed since the lastcalculation or modification of a height-balanced histogram for thecolumn, exceeding a rebalance time threshold (e.g., 24 hours). Otherembodiments may determine that an amount of additional data stored inadditional data blocks may have been stored for a column, exceeding arebalancing threshold. For example, a rebalancing threshold may be 20new data blocks for a column, and after writing more than 20 data blocksfor the column, a rebalancing event may be detected.

In at least some embodiments, a rebalancing event may be determinedbased on the distribution of additional data for a column. Thisadditional data may be analyzed to determine a change in thedistribution of the additional data, such as the distribution of theadditional data among the buckets of the height-balanced histogram,compared to the current distribution of data in the column. It may thenbe determined whether the change exceeds a distribution threshold, suchas a certain percentage or other value that indicates the distributionof the additional data may be skewed toward a different distributionthan the current histogram, such as the distribution for the histogrammay no longer be height-balanced.

Analyzing the distribution for additional data may be performed in avariety of different ways. Analysis of the data values of the additionaldata may be performed to analyze the distribution of the additional dataeither as the additional data is stored in additional data blocks, orafter the additional data is stored in the additional data blocks. Forinstance, the distribution of data values for data may be tracked ormonitored during the store process by examining the data values for eachdata block prior to storage. Alternatively, after a certain number ofadditional data blocks have been stored, the data values may be obtainedand analyzed.

In addition to analyzing the data values of the additional data, in atleast some embodiments the probabilistic data structures, such as thebitmaps, generated for the additional data may be examined instead. Forexample, as discussed above a bitmap may be generated which indicateswhich buckets of a histogram include data values of the additional datain an additional data block. These bitmaps may be analyzed to determinethe distribution of the additional data. The number of bits set, forinstance, which indicate a data value within the bucket range may becounted or tracked. This tracking may be maintained as each additionalbitmap is generated for additional data blocks storing additional data(or alternatively, may be obtained after the bitmaps are generated andthe additional data stored in the data blocks). Based on the number ofbuckets set for the additional data, such as those with the same bucketsset or buckets close in range set, a distribution of the additional datamay be determined. The change compared to the original distribution ofthe data in the column may then be determined. If, for instance, thenumber of bits set representing a particular bucket range for additionaldata blocks exceeds a certain threshold, (e.g., a count value relativeto the number of additional data blocks stored, such as a threshold of20 relative to 30 additional data blocks stored) then it may bedetermined that the distribution of data for the additional data isskewed toward that particular bucket range when compared to the previousdistribution of data for the column. A rebalancing event may betriggered. Such an analysis may also be performed for one or more of theother buckets of the histogram. The results for individual buckets may,for instance, be combined to determine a distribution for the additionaldata, which may then be compared to the distribution of the data priorto the additional data. If this change exceeds some distributionthreshold, then the rebalancing event may be triggered.

In response to detecting a rebalancing event for the height-balancedhistogram representing the data of the column, the bucket range sizesfor the height-balanced histogram may be modified, as indicated at 804.Modifying the bucket range sizes could be performed according to manydifferent bucket range techniques, such as by examining theprobabilistic data structures for the additional data blocks to estimatethe distribution of the additional data. For example, if new data addedto the column skews to higher range values, then the distribution may beestimated to decrease the size of buckets representing the higher rangevalues. Alternatively, the bucket range sizes may be modified tooverlap, such as by setting bits adjacent to set bits in a bitmapprobabilistic data structure. Once the bucket range sizes for theheight-balanced histogram representing the distribution of data for thecolumn are modified, then the probabilistic data structures for the datablocks may be updated to represent the modified bucket range sizes forthe height-balanced histogram, as indicated at 806. FIG. 10, discussedfurther below, describes an example of a technique to updateprobabilistic data structures. Such updates may, for example, be assimple as setting different bits in those probabilistic data structuresthat are represented as bitmaps, or changing to a differentprobabilistic data structure representing the distribution of the dataamong the buckets according to the modified bucket range sizes. Forexample, a height-balanced histogram may instead be represented as amathematical expression rather than a bitmap. Alternatively, updates mayinclude generating a new block metadata structure, such as a superblock,filled with the updated probabilistic data structures to replace acurrent block metadata structure that is used for servicing queries forthe data of the column. The current superblock data structure isutilized until the new superblock data structure has been completed.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow chart of a method to update a probabilisticdata structure for a data block, according to some embodiments. Asindicated at 900, additional data for a column of a columnar databasetable may be received. The data may be stored in one or more datablocks, as indicated at 910. The amount of data stored, such as thenumber of data blocks created, may exceed a rebalancing threshold, suchas one of the various thresholds used to trigger a rebalancing eventdiscussed above with regard to FIG. 9, as indicated at 920. If not, thengenerate a bitmap for the one or more data blocks setting the bits fordata values located in the buckets of a height-balanced histogramrepresenting a distribution of data among the buckets, as indicated at912. If the rebalancing threshold is exceeded, then modify a bucketrange size for each bucket for the height-balanced histogramrepresenting the distribution of data in the column among the buckets,as indicated at 930. Then, the unset bits of the bitmaps that representthe buckets for the data blocks in the column which are now indicated tostore data values within the modified bucket range sites are identified,as indicated at 940, and then set, as indicated at 950.

In various embodiments, updated probabilistic data structures due tomodified bucket range sizes may be further updated after subsequentreads of the data blocks which correspond to the data structure. Forexample, if a probabilistic data structure indicates that a data valuewithin a certain range of values is stored in the data block, and afterreading the data block it is determined that no such value is within therange, the probabilistic data structure may be updated to indicate thatthe value is not stored within the range. Looking again back at FIG. 1,if, for instance, bucket 8 has been changed to a modified bucket rangesize even larger than before, and the superblock 100 bitmap for thefirst data block is updated to indicate that bit 8 is now set to 1instead of 0 (indicating a value stored with the range of modifiedvalues represented by bucket 8), and then the data block is read and nodata value is actually stored in the modified range as indicated by the1 in bit 8, then the bitmap may be further updated to return the bit to0.

In at least some embodiments, the selectivity level of the probabilisticdata structures for the data blocks may be determined. If, for example,most of the bits of the data bitmap are set to 1, then the bitmap is nothighly selective as most examinations will indicate that the data blockshould be read. If the selectivity level falls below a selectivitythreshold, then, in some embodiments a different probabilistic datastructure, such as a bloom filter, quotient filter, or skip list may beimplemented in place of the height-balanced histogram and stored in theblock metadata to facilitate query processing.

Example System

Embodiments of efficient query processing using a histogram for a columnof a columnar database as described herein may be executed on one ormore computer systems, which may interact with various other devices.One such computer system is illustrated by FIG. 11. In differentembodiments, computer system 1000 may be any of various types ofdevices, including, but not limited to, a personal computer system,desktop computer, laptop, notebook, or netbook computer, mainframecomputer system, handheld computer, workstation, network computer, acamera, a set top box, a mobile device, a consumer device, video gameconsole, handheld video game device, application server, storage device,a peripheral device such as a switch, modem, router, or in general anytype of computing or electronic device.

In the illustrated embodiment, computer system 1000 includes one or moreprocessors 1010 coupled to a system memory 1020 via an input/output(I/O) interface 1030. Computer system 1000 further includes a networkinterface 1040 coupled to I/O interface 1030, and one or moreinput/output devices 1050, such as cursor control device 1060, keyboard1070, and display(s) 1080. Display(s) 1080 may include standard computermonitor(s) and/or other display systems, technologies or devices. In atleast some implementations, the input/output devices 1050 may alsoinclude a touch- or multi-touch enabled device such as a pad or tabletvia which a user enters input via a stylus-type device and/or one ormore digits. In some embodiments, it is contemplated that embodimentsmay be implemented using a single instance of computer system 1000,while in other embodiments multiple such systems, or multiple nodesmaking up computer system 1000, may be configured to host differentportions or instances of embodiments. For example, in one embodimentsome elements may be implemented via one or more nodes of computersystem 1000 that are distinct from those nodes implementing otherelements.

In various embodiments, computer system 1000 may be a uniprocessorsystem including one processor 1010, or a multiprocessor systemincluding several processors 1010 (e.g., two, four, eight, or anothersuitable number). Processors 1010 may be any suitable processor capableof executing instructions. For example, in various embodiments,processors 1010 may be general-purpose or embedded processorsimplementing any of a variety of instruction set architectures (ISAs),such as the x86, PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitableISA. In multiprocessor systems, each of processors 1010 may commonly,but not necessarily, implement the same ISA.

In some embodiments, at least one processor 1010 may be a graphicsprocessing unit. A graphics processing unit or GPU may be considered adedicated graphics-rendering device for a personal computer,workstation, game console or other computing or electronic device.Modern GPUs may be very efficient at manipulating and displayingcomputer graphics, and their highly parallel structure may make themmore effective than typical CPUs for a range of complex graphicalalgorithms. For example, a graphics processor may implement a number ofgraphics primitive operations in a way that makes executing them muchfaster than drawing directly to the screen with a host centralprocessing unit (CPU). In various embodiments, graphics rendering may,at least in part, be implemented by program instructions configured forexecution on one of, or parallel execution on two or more of, such GPUs.The GPU(s) may implement one or more application programmer interfaces(APIs) that permit programmers to invoke the functionality of theGPU(s). Suitable GPUs may be commercially available from vendors such asNVIDIA Corporation, ATI Technologies (AMD), and others.

System memory 1020 may be configured to store program instructionsand/or data accessible by processor 1010. In various embodiments, systemmemory 1020 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology,such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM(SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. Inthe illustrated embodiment, program instructions and data implementingdesired functions, such as those described above for scaling computingclusters in distributed systems as described herein are shown storedwithin system memory 1020 as program instructions 1025 and data storage1035, respectively. In other embodiments, program instructions and/ordata may be received, sent or stored upon different types ofcomputer-accessible media or on similar media separate from systemmemory 1020 or computer system 1000. Generally speaking, acomputer-accessible medium may include storage media or memory mediasuch as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or CD/DVD-ROM coupled tocomputer system 1000 via I/O interface 1030. Program instructions anddata stored via a computer-accessible medium may be transmitted bytransmission media or signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, ordigital signals, which may be conveyed via a communication medium suchas a network and/or a wireless link, such as may be implemented vianetwork interface 1040.

In one embodiment, I/O interface 1030 may be configured to coordinateI/O traffic between processor 1010, system memory 1020, and anyperipheral devices in the device, including network interface 1040 orother peripheral interfaces, such as input/output devices 1050. In someembodiments, I/O interface 1030 may perform any necessary protocol,timing or other data transformations to convert data signals from onecomponent (e.g., system memory 1020) into a format suitable for use byanother component (e.g., processor 1010). In some embodiments, I/Ointerface 1030 may include support for devices attached through varioustypes of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the Peripheral ComponentInterconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus (USB)standard, for example. In some embodiments, the function of I/Ointerface 1030 may be split into two or more separate components, suchas a north bridge and a south bridge, for example. In addition, in someembodiments some or all of the functionality of I/O interface 1030, suchas an interface to system memory 1020, may be incorporated directly intoprocessor 1010.

Network interface 1040 may be configured to allow data to be exchangedbetween computer system 1000 and other devices attached to a network,such as other computer systems, or between nodes of computer system1000. In various embodiments, network interface 1040 may supportcommunication via wired or wireless general data networks, such as anysuitable type of Ethernet network, for example; viatelecommunications/telephony networks such as analog voice networks ordigital fiber communications networks; via storage area networks such asFibre Channel SANs, or via any other suitable type of network and/orprotocol.

Input/output devices 1050 may, in some embodiments, include one or moredisplay terminals, keyboards, keypads, touchpads, scanning devices,voice or optical recognition devices, or any other devices suitable forentering or retrieving data by one or more computer system 1000.Multiple input/output devices 1050 may be present in computer system1000 or may be distributed on various nodes of computer system 1000. Insome embodiments, similar input/output devices may be separate fromcomputer system 1000 and may interact with one or more nodes of computersystem 1000 through a wired or wireless connection, such as over networkinterface 1040.

As shown in FIG. 11, memory 1020 may include program instructions 1025,configured to provide time-based item recommendations for a scheduleddelivery orders as described herein, and data storage 1035, comprisingvarious data accessible by program instructions 1025. In one embodiment,program instructions 1025 may include software elements of embodimentsas described herein and as illustrated in the Figures. Data storage 1035may include data that may be used in embodiments. In other embodiments,other or different software elements and data may be included.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computer system 1000 ismerely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of the stereodrawing techniques as described herein. In particular, the computersystem and devices may include any combination of hardware or softwarethat can perform the indicated functions, including a computer, personalcomputer system, desktop computer, laptop, notebook, or netbookcomputer, mainframe computer system, handheld computer, workstation,network computer, a camera, a set top box, a mobile device, networkdevice, internet appliance, PDA, wireless phones, pagers, a consumerdevice, video game console, handheld video game device, applicationserver, storage device, a peripheral device such as a switch, modem,router, or in general any type of computing or electronic device.Computer system 1000 may also be connected to other devices that are notillustrated, or instead may operate as a stand-alone system. Inaddition, the functionality provided by the illustrated components mayin some embodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed inadditional components. Similarly, in some embodiments, the functionalityof some of the illustrated components may not be provided and/or otheradditional functionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while various itemsare illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while beingused, these items or portions of them may be transferred between memoryand other storage devices for purposes of memory management and dataintegrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of thesoftware components may execute in memory on another device andcommunicate with the illustrated computer system via inter-computercommunication. Some or all of the system components or data structuresmay also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on acomputer-accessible medium or a portable article to be read by anappropriate drive, various examples of which are described above. Insome embodiments, instructions stored on a computer-accessible mediumseparate from computer system 1000 may be transmitted to computer system1000 via transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as a network and/or a wireless link. Various embodiments mayfurther include receiving, sending or storing instructions and/or dataimplemented in accordance with the foregoing description upon acomputer-accessible medium. Accordingly, the present invention may bepracticed with other computer system configurations.

It is noted that any of the distributed system embodiments describedherein, or any of their components, may be implemented as one or moreweb services. For example, leader nodes within a data warehouse systemmay present data storage services and/or database services to clients asweb services. In some embodiments, a web service may be implemented by asoftware and/or hardware system designed to support interoperablemachine-to-machine interaction over a network. A web service may have aninterface described in a machine-processable format, such as the WebServices Description Language (WSDL). Other systems may interact withthe web service in a manner prescribed by the description of the webservice's interface. For example, the web service may define variousoperations that other systems may invoke, and may define a particularapplication programming interface (API) to which other systems may beexpected to conform when requesting the various operations.

In various embodiments, a web service may be requested or invokedthrough the use of a message that includes parameters and/or dataassociated with the web services request. Such a message may beformatted according to a particular markup language such as ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML), and/or may be encapsulated using a protocol suchas Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). To perform a web servicesrequest, a web services client may assemble a message including therequest and convey the message to an addressable endpoint (e.g., aUniform Resource Locator (URL)) corresponding to the web service, usingan Internet-based application layer transfer protocol such as HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP).

In some embodiments, web services may be implemented usingRepresentational State Transfer (“RESTful”) techniques rather thanmessage-based techniques. For example, a web service implementedaccording to a RESTful technique may be invoked through parametersincluded within an HTTP method such as PUT, GET, or DELETE, rather thanencapsulated within a SOAP message.

CONCLUSION

Various embodiments may further include receiving, sending or storinginstructions and/or data implemented in accordance with the foregoingdescription upon a computer-accessible medium. Generally speaking, acomputer-accessible medium may include storage media or memory mediasuch as magnetic or optical media, e.g., disk or DVD/CD-ROM,non-volatile media such as RAM (e.g. SDRAM, DDR, RDRAM, SRAM, etc.),ROM, etc., as well as transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as network and/or a wireless link.

The various methods as illustrated in the Figures and described hereinrepresent example embodiments of methods. The methods may be implementedin software, hardware, or a combination thereof. The order of method maybe changed, and various elements may be added, reordered, combined,omitted, modified, etc.

Various modifications and changes may be made as would be obvious to aperson skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. It isintended that the invention embrace all such modifications and changesand, accordingly, the above description to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A distributed data warehouse system, comprising: a plurality ofnodes; wherein at least some nodes of the plurality of nodes eachcomprise: storage for a columnar database table, wherein said storagecomprises a plurality of data blocks; a query execution module; whereinat least one node of the plurality of nodes comprises a height-balancedhistogram generator, configured to: determine a plurality of bucketrange sizes for a height-balanced histogram representing a distributionof data among a plurality of buckets in a column of the columnardatabase table, wherein each bucket of the plurality of bucketsrepresents an existence of one or more data values of the data in thecolumn within a range of values; generate a probabilistic data structurefor each data block of one or more data blocks storing data for thecolumn, wherein the probabilistic data structure indicates for whichbuckets of the plurality of buckets there is a data value in the bucketrange size stored in the data block; wherein the query execution moduleis configured to: receive an indication of a query directed to thecolumn of the columnar database table for select data; in response toreceiving the indication of the query: examine the probabilistic datastructure for each of the one or more data blocks storing data for thecolumn to determine particular ones of the one or more data blocks whichdo not need to be read in order to service the query for the selectdata; and read the one or more data blocks storing data for the columnexcepting the particular ones of the one or more data blocks which donot need to be read.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein, to determine theplurality of bucket range sizes for the plurality of buckets for theheight-balanced histogram representing the column of the columnardatabase table, the height-balanced histogram generator is configuredto: obtain the data of the column; generate the plurality of buckets;and set a bucket range size of the plurality of bucket range sizes foreach bucket for the height-balanced histogram such that the data of thecolumn is evenly distributed among the buckets.
 3. The system of claim1, wherein the probabilistic data structure is a bitmap comprising aplurality of bits, wherein each bit of the bitmap represents each bucketof the plurality of buckets for the height-balanced histogram, and forevery data value included in the bucket range size stored in the datablock the bit of the bitmap corresponding to the bucket is set.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the height-balanced histogram generator isfurther configured to store the probabilistic data structure of each ofthe one or more data blocks in a respective entry in a block metadatastructure that stores information about the one or more data blocks. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one node is a leader node ofa distributed data warehouse cluster, and wherein the at least one ofthe at least some nodes is a compute node of the distributed datawarehouse cluster.
 6. A method, comprising: performing, by one or morecomputing devices: determining a bucket range size for each of aplurality of buckets for a histogram of a column of a columnar databasetable, wherein the histogram represents a distribution of data in thecolumn among the plurality of buckets, wherein each bucket of theplurality of buckets represents an existence of one or more data valuesof the data in the column within a range of values according to thedetermined bucket range size; generating a probabilistic data structurefor each of one or more data blocks storing data for the column of thecolumnar database table, wherein the probabilistic data structureindicates for which particular buckets of the plurality of buckets inthe there is a data value stored in the data block; receiving anindication of a query directed to the column for select data; and inresponse to receiving the indication of the query, examining theprobabilistic data structure for each of the one or more data blocksstoring data for the column to determine particular ones of the one ormore data blocks which do not need to be read in order to service thequery for the select data.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein saiddetermining a bucket range size for each of a plurality of buckets forthe histogram of the column of the columnar database table comprises:obtaining the data of the column; generating the plurality of buckets;and setting a bucket range size of the plurality of bucket range sizesfor each bucket such that the data of the column is evenly distributedamong the buckets.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein said generating theprobabilistic data structure for each of the one or more data blocksstoring data for the column of the columnar database table comprises:generating a bitmap for the data block comprising a plurality of bits,wherein each bit represents a different bucket of the plurality ofbuckets for the histogram; and setting the respective bit in the bitmapfor each of the particular buckets for which there is the data valuestored in the data block.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprisingstoring the probabilistic data structure of each of the one or more datablocks in a respective entry in a block metadata structure that storesinformation about the one or more data blocks.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein said examining the probabilistic data structure for each ofthe one or more data blocks storing data for the column to determine theparticular ones of the one or more data blocks which do not need to beread in order to service the query for the select data comprises:determining one or more bits representing the one or more buckets withinthe range of values including the select data; and examining the one ormore bits in each bitmap stored in the block metadata structure for theone or more data blocks to identify those data blocks without one of theone or more bits set as the particular ones which do not need to be readin order to service the query for the select data.
 11. The method ofclaim 6, wherein the histogram of the column of the columnar databasetable is a height-balanced histogram.
 12. The method of claim 11,further comprising: detecting a rebalancing event for the distributionof data in the column among the plurality of buckets; in response todetecting the rebalancing event: modifying the bucket range size foreach of the plurality of buckets for the height-balanced histogram ofthe column; and updating each probabilistic data structure for each ofthe one or more data blocks according to the modified bucket range sizeof the plurality of buckets.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein saiddetecting the rebalancing event for the distribution of data in thecolumn among the plurality of buckets comprises determining that anamount of additional data for the column stored in one or more new datablocks exceeds a rebalancing threshold.
 14. The method of claim 12,wherein said detecting the rebalancing event for the distribution ofdata in the column among the plurality of buckets comprises analyzing adistribution of an additional amount of data for the column to determinethat a change between the distribution of the additional amount of datacompared to the distribution of the data in the column exceeds adistribution threshold.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:subsequent to said updating each probabilistic data structure, receivingan indication that data read from one of the one or more data blocks forservicing the query does not include a data value in the range of datavalues as indicated by the probabilistic data structure for the one datablock; and updating the probabilistic data structure for the one datablock to remove the indication that the data values is included in therange of data values.
 16. The method of claim 6, wherein the data storedin the one or more data blocks for the column is unsorted.
 17. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the one or more of computing devices are partof a larger collection of computing devices implementing a distributeddata warehouse system, wherein the one or more computing devices are oneor more compute nodes of a database warehouse cluster, wherein adifferent computing device of the larger collection of computing devicesis a leader node of the database warehouse cluster, and wherein themethod further comprises performing, by the leader node, sending one ormore queries directed to the column of the columnar database table tothe one or more compute nodes.
 18. A non-transitory, computer-readablestorage medium, storing program instructions that when executed by oneor more computing devices implement: determining a bucket range size foreach of a plurality of buckets for a histogram of a column of a columnardatabase table, wherein the histogram represents a distribution of datain the column among the plurality of buckets, wherein each bucket of theplurality of buckets represents an existence of one or more data valuesof the data in the column within a range of values according to thedetermined bucket range size; generating a bitmap for each of one ormore data blocks storing data for the column of the columnar databasetable, wherein each bit in the bitmap represents a different one of theplurality of buckets, and wherein set bits in the bitmap indicateparticular buckets of the plurality of buckets in the histogram forwhich there is a data value stored in the data block; receiving anindication of a query directed to the column for select data; inresponse to receiving the indication of the query: examining the bitmapfor each of the one or more data blocks storing data for the column todetermine particular ones of the one or more data blocks which do notneed to be read in order to service the query for the select data; andreading the one or more data blocks storing data for the columnexcepting the particular ones of the one or more data blocks which donot need to be read.
 19. The non-transitory, computer-readable storagemedium of claim 18, wherein the histogram for the column of the columnardatabase table is a height-balanced histogram.
 20. The non-transitory,computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the programinstructions when further executed by the one or more computing devicesimplement: detecting a rebalancing event for the distribution of data inthe column among the plurality of buckets; in response to detecting therebalancing event: modifying the bucket range size for each of theplurality of buckets for the height-balanced histogram of the column;and updating each bitmap for each of the one or more data blocksaccording to the modified bucket range size of the plurality of buckets.21-23. (canceled)